This application is based on application No. 09-171718 filed in Japan, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus which manages the image formations performed by an image forming apparatus, and especially relates to an apparatus which manages the total amount of image formations performed by a plurality of image forming apparatuses on a user basis, with the plurality of image forming apparatuses being used by a plurality of users.
(2) Related Art
In organizations such as companies, a budget for each section is easily managed by allocating a different number of copies to each section per certain period of time. Various management apparatuses may be used for this kind of management.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 61-51166 teaches an example of a management apparatus which manages the number of copies performed by one copier on a user basis and which prohibits copy operations when the number of copies made by a user reaches the number of the copies allocated to the user.
Similarly, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 3-255466 teaches an example of a management apparatus which manages the number of copies made by users on a plurality of copiers. This management apparatus regularly accumulates the number of copies performed by all of the plurality of copiers for each user, and prohibits copy operations by any copier when the number of copies made by a user reaches the number of copies allocated to that user.
The management apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 61-51166 can be used in the case when only one copier is subjected to the management. Therefore, it is hard to manage the number of copies allocated to a user who may use a plurality of copiers.
The management apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 3-255466 judges whether the number of copies made by the user has reached the number of copies allocated to the user by accumulating the number of copies made by the user only when the certain period of time elapses. As such, the user can continue to make copies until the certain period of time elapses, despite having used up the allocated number. Consequently, the total number of copies made by the user may substantially exceed the allocated number of copies, thereby exceeding the budgeted cost.
The object of the present invention is to provide a management apparatus which properly manages the amount of image formations made by the user who uses the plurality of copiers and which securely prohibits the image formation when the amount of image formations made by the user reaches the amount of image formations allocated to the user.
This object can be achieved by a management apparatus which is connected to a plurality of image forming apparatuses via a communication line and manages an amount of image formations performed by at least one of users using the plurality of image forming apparatuses, the management apparatus made up of: an amount of image formations distribution unit for distributing an amount of image formations allocated to a specific user among the plurality of image forming apparatuses in accordance with a first ratio; and a distributed amount transmission unit for transmitting a respective distributed amount of image formations to each image forming apparatus.
The object can be also achieved by a management method for a management apparatus which is connected to a plurality of image forming apparatuses via a communication line and manages an amount of image formations performed by at least one of users using the plurality of image forming apparatuses, the management method including: an amount of image formations distribution step for distributing an amount of image formations allocated to a specific user among the plurality of image forming apparatuses in accordance with a first ratio; and a distributed amount transmission step for transmitting a respective distributed amount of image formations to each image forming apparatus.
Also, the object can be achieved by a management system where a plurality of image forming apparatuses are connected to a management apparatus via a communication line, for managing an amount of image formations made by a specific user, wherein the management apparatus made up of: an amount of image formations distribution unit for distributing an amount of image formations allocated to a specific user among the plurality of image forming apparatuses in accordance with a first ratio; and a distributed amount transmission unit for transmitting a respective distributed amount of image formations to each image forming apparatus, and wherein each image forming apparatus made up of: a storage unit for storing a distributed amount of image formations associated with a specific user, with the distributed amount of image formations being transmitted from the management apparatus; an amount of image formations counting unit for counting an amount of image formations made by the specific user using the image forming apparatus; and a prohibiting unit for prohibiting the specific user from using the image forming apparatus when an amount of image formations counted by the amount of image formations counting unit reaches the distributed amount of image formations stored in the storage unit.
With this structure, when the amount of image formations, such as the number of image formations or the fee for image formations, is managed for the specific user who uses a plurality of image forming apparatuses, the sum of the amounts of image formations distributed to the plurality of image forming apparatuses does not exceed the amount of image formations allocated to the specific user. As a result, the image formation is securely prohibited when the amount of image formations made by the specific user reaches the amount of image formations allocated to the specific user.
Also, the object of the present invention can be achieved by the management apparatus further made up of: a detection unit for detecting a reception of a redistribution request issued for the specific user, with the redistribution request being transmitted from one of the plurality of image forming apparatuses; an amount of image formations redistribution unit for redistributing the amount of image formations previously allocated to the specific user among the plurality of image forming apparatuses according to a second ratio when the reception of the redistribution request is detected; and a redistributed amount transmission unit for transmitting a respective redistributed amount of image formations to each image forming apparatus.
By means of the redistribution of the amount of image formations, a problem, such as where an image forming apparatus which is often used by the specific user cannot be used, can be avoided. In addition, the amount of image formations made by the specific user does not exceed the amount of image formations allocated to the specific user.